Canada will be the prime-time feature on the first day of the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship, which will be held in Montreal and Toronto from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, 2015.

The host country will start the tournament against Slovakia at 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 26 at Bell Centre in Montreal.

The United States also will play its first game Dec. 26 at Bell Centre, at 3 p.m. ET against defending champion Finland.

Canada, the United States, Finland, Slovakia and Germany will play in Group A, which will see all its preliminary-round games played at Bell Centre.

After its opening game, Canada plays Germany on Dec. 27 and Finland on Dec. 29. After playing Finland, the U.S. faces Germany on Dec. 28 and Slovakia on Dec. 29. On Dec. 31 the U.S. and Canada will play at 4 p.m. ET.

Group B, which consists of Sweden, Russia, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Denmark, will play its preliminary-round games at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

Preliminary-round play runs Dec. 26-31. The quarterfinals will be held Jan. 2, the semifinals on Jan. 4 and the bronze- and gold-medal games on Jan. 5.

As part of the shared hosting duties between Montreal and Toronto, the semifinal and final games will be in Toronto; Montreal will host them when the cities host again for the 2017 WJC.